Tough Luck (A-List Security 1)

“At our house, it was too easy to pass jobs onto someone else. First time I had to clean anything was the chore chart in rehab. I was the only one who’d never changed a bed or made coffee.”

“But you made it through,” I pointed out as I screwed the camera into place. “It’s never too late to learn something new.”

“Like driving maybe,” Daniel mused, nodding like he was working extra hard at believing my pep talk. If I was sticking around, which I wasn’t, I’d offer to teach him to drive. But that probably wouldn’t be smart.

“Ask Duncan if he can give you lessons,” I suggested instead, and my chest twinged like I’d tweaked a pec. I did not need any ongoing involvement in Daniel’s life, and getting jealous over a suggestion I had made was stupid.

“Maybe.” Daniel’s tight smile said he wasn’t likely to make the call, and why that made my shoulders unknot, I had no idea.

“What do we do next?” he asked as the afternoon sun beat down on us. It seemed to be an unseasonably warm spring already this year. But I’d needed the job done before dark, so we’d have to live with being sweaty.

“We test the camera on an app I put on my phone.” A bead of sweat rolled down my cheek, and I used the bottom of my shirt to wipe my face.

“Oh.” Daniel’s gaze was locked on the skin I was flashing, eyes wide like my fuzzy belly had some sort of secret code on it.

“Sorry.” I lowered my shirt back down and grabbed my bottle of water. “Damn hot, and I’m not used to needing better manners.”

“Don’t apologize.” He’d turned bright pink and his speech came out faster. “I’m the one who was rudely ogling you.”

“Ogling?” I considered this as my skin went from sweaty to clammy. A tremor raced up my legs like I’d stepped on an unstable board. “I’m not hot.”

“Do they restrict mirrors in the SEALs too?” Cheeks rosy, Daniel laughed, a cheerful, tinkly noise. “Not that you need me to say it, but yeah, you’re hot. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable though.”

“I’m not uncomfortable,” I lied, even though I kind of was. I wasn’t used to giving my own attractiveness any thought at all. Could I get a given job done? That was all I cared about. I was known for being a tank, the guy they relied on for the heavy lifting. Duncan was the one they called on for the charity calendar photoshoots, not me. “I…um…thanks.”

“Oh.” He pursed his lips, and if we were going to go admiring each other, he sure did have pretty lips, full and pink. “What’s your deal anyway?”

“What do you mean?” Trying to distract myself, I clicked around on my phone to configure the camera.

“Are you bi? Pan? Most straight guys would be freaked over me checking them out.”

“I’m not most guys.” It wasn’t a real answer, so I wasn’t surprised when he groaned.

“That much is obvious. No, seriously. I’m not a gossip. I won’t tell, not even Duncan. I’m just curious.” He stepped closer, like that might encourage me to share secrets.

“He wouldn’t care.” I wasn’t sure what he’d shared with Daniel, but Duncan had a variety of hookups. I kept my attention on my phone. I’d found the camera’s Wi-Fi at least. At least something was working as it was supposed to. But Daniel was still looking at me like I was new species of plant needing classification, and I was no closer to an answer for him. “I’m…I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” He did a rather adorable doubletake, and with anyone else, I would have left it at the flip answer. But something about Daniel demanded my full honesty, even if the truth was uncomfortable.

“I mean, I don’t know. I won’t say the question hasn’t ever crossed my mind. I’ve wondered here and there. Stray thoughts.” I didn’t know. Maybe everyone had questions like those in their heads, moments where they appreciated a set of muscles or a deep laugh a little too much. “But I’m coming off two decades where keeping my teammates alive was way more important than…experimenting. And before that was a tiny close-minded town and a different kind of staying alive.”

“Huh.” Daniel made a startled noise, and okay, maybe muddled brains like mine weren’t that common after all. I could do without him continuing to scrutinize me with his intense eyes. “I thought the military let people be queer now.”

“Let? Sure. But is it an easy path? No. I’ve seen intra-team hookups go hella bad before. On a deployment is not where you want to be exploring anything, and stateside, it never seemed that compelling to rock the boat and find out for sure one way or the other.”